Guest blogger Sugar Mama sends her sons to dating boot camp.

A good friend of mine once told me that it's a father's job to teach his son how to be a man and a mother's job to teach him how to treat a lady. So I thought I'd get to work on my 3- and 5-year-old sons the other day by showing them how to take a girl on a proper "date."

Their first lesson in romance was that it's about thoughtfulness, not extravagance. So I gave them 20 bucks and asked them to take me out on a "date" they thought I would enjoy.

"Ice cream!" my littlest screamed.

"With sprinkles!" added his brother.

Well, sure, I would enjoy ice cream (sprinkles or no), though for caloric intake reasons, I suggested we make it frozen yogurt instead. So with my two stallions strapped in their car seats, we headed out to one of those uber-trendy (you know, because it was a date) nonfat, build-your-own yogurt sundae places. Naturally, it was packed, parking was scarce, and we actually had to valet.

For five dollars. Just to get some frozen yogurt.

But back to the date. My second lesson to the boys was this: What the lady wants, the lady gets. Except that this lady had only 15 bucks left--and her dates wanted to spend it on toppings for themselves! Yes, their fro-yos with sprinkles and assorted other embellishments actually came to a whopping $7 each.

So all she got was a napkin.

Oh, well. I've definitely had worse dates. And spent a lot more money.

What I spent: $5 on parking for a date I never went on; $15 on food I never got to eat.